Stamopoulos' Five Points Leads Hawks to 3-0 Win at Sacred Heart

BOX SCORE

FAIRFIELD, Conn. – An offensive outburst for University of Hartford junior James Stamopoulos and the Hawks led the men's soccer team to a 3-0 oust of the Sacred Heart Pioneers on Tuesday evening at Campus Field. The midfielder had a share in each of his team's three goals and racked up five points en route to the Hartford win. The Hawks improve to 3-5-2 on the season while Sacred Heart, which snapped a two-game win streak with the setback, falls to 4-3-0 this year.

The Hawks first struck just over midway through the first half and again reached the back of the net 10 minutes later to jump out to a 2-0 advantage over the Pioneers. Stamopoulos provided the evening's opening goal, his second on the season and the eventual game-winner, on an unassisted score in the 27th minute. On a free kick, the Mississaugua, Ontario native unloaded a shot from 20-yards out, beating Sacred Heart keeper Alex Fait and putting his squad on the scoreboard.

Just over 10 minutes later, Stamopoulos dished out his first assist this year when he connected with Anthony Santaga on a corner kick to push Hartford's lead to 2-0. Stamopoulos' strong corner kick landed inside of the box at the head of Santaga who launched a floater into the back of the net in the 37th minute for his first goal in a Hawks' uniform.

After the halftime intermission, Stamopoulos found the back of the net again and sealed the game in favor of the Hawks. In the 63rd minute, the junior drilled another free kick from just outside of the 18-yard box past Fait to boost his team's lead to three goals. Stamopoulos' five points – the highest single game output since Carlos Villa netted a hat trick against Byrant on September 16, 2008 – moves him to the top of Hartford's scoring this season with seven points.

After finishing even in the shots column at 5-5, Sacred Heart went on to outshoot the Hawks, 14-11 while holding the slight 3-1 edge in corner kicks. Senior goalkeeper Luke Citriniti made five saves to earn the shutout, his fourth on the season.

Hartford, which is unbeaten in its last four outings scoring ties with Penn State and Marist and victories over Massachusetts and Sacred Heart, resumes action on Saturday, October 1 when it welcomes the Boston University Terriers to Al-Marzook Field for both teams' America East debuts. The conference foes will kick-off at 7:00 p.m.

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